Communion became a fitting expression of a love meant to be lived together as the La Consolacion College Bacolod community gathered at the school Quadrangle on Aug. 27 to celebrate the feasts of St. Monica and St. Augustine.
The Eucharistic celebration, presided over by Fr. Raymundo Edsel T. Alcayaga, OSA, brought the school community together in prayer while reflecting on Christ’s command in the Gospel of John: “Love one another as I have loved you.”
In his homily, Alcayaga drew from people’s familiar experiences of love — in families, friendships and relationships — before pointing to the more demanding kind of love modeled by Christ.
He emphasized that Jesus did not simply tell his disciples to love one another, but gave them the measure of that love: “as I have loved you.”
For Alcayaga, the cross provides the clearest expression of what that command entails — a love willing to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others.
“It’s a very unique and yet very challenging love,” Alcayaga said, describing it as a love willing to make sacrifices and to give without conditions.
The message found a visible expression as members of the LCC Bacolod community approached the Eucharist. While Communion is received personally, the sacrament also gathers the faithful into a shared life in Christ, turning an individual act of faith into an expression of belonging to a larger community.
That sense of communion carries particular meaning in an Augustinian educational community, where relationships, friendship and the pursuit of unity are integral to living the school’s Christian identity.
The Gospel proclaimed during the celebration also presented love not simply as an obligation but as a source of joy.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete,” Jesus tells his disciples in John 15.
Alcayaga challenged the community to carry that message beyond the celebration, stressing that the love Christ asks of his followers is not confined to words or feelings but is demonstrated through willingness to give oneself for others.
The celebration of St. Monica and St. Augustine offered a fitting setting for that message. Their story, marked by a mother’s persevering love and prayer and a son’s long journey toward conversion, remains deeply woven into the spiritual heritage of the Augustinian community.
As the faithful received Communion and the Mass drew toward its conclusion, the celebration pointed beyond the Eucharistic gathering itself: Communion calls people into community, and community is called to make Christ’s love visible in everyday life.
For LCC Bacolod, the feast thus became more than a commemoration of its Augustinian heritage. It was a reminder that the community formed around one table is also called to live as one — loving, serving and making sacrifices for one another.